“Happy birth Wiggler Hatch? Birthday tavros!!”

A banner (vERY HEAVILY,) taped to the wall read. You’ve been reading it for, a while now, actually. Despite not knowing what a birthday really is. You can’t really do anything else but wait.

Jake woke you up early today, and took you from the Consort village you were staying in right to the nearest McDonald’s (i HAVE NEVER BEEN TO A mCdONALDS,,). And then to a strangely spacious, and empty room with balloons and streamers everywhere. And then, then told you to wait and left you in said room, all alone.

Which is kind of weird, and also creepy, but you trust Jake..

Plus, you’re too tired to care. You were up all night yesterday, playing the brand new Fiduspawn game (iT'S DIGITAL, i CAN BRING IT EVERYWHERE, sO COOL,), and passed out around 05:00.

(You lick the back of your paw, and brought it to your slighty-fluffy face, yawning right after.)

It was so worth it, you found so many shinies..

Some staff suddenly enter the room, trays of food and even more decorations in hand, jolting you back awake (,?!). Uh. That is a lot of food. Are you supposed to do something about this or..?—

Aradia flies in for a hug, which you happily return back. It’s been a while since you last saw her, so it’s nice to see that she’s doing well. The familiar soft smile on her face makes you give one back, too.

You ask, letting Aradia sit beside you, watching her fold her crimson wings away. You know you can fly now, considering your sprite powers, but it'd be nice to have wings..

Aradia takes a conical paper object from a table, uncaptchalogues a marker, writes your (gOD cAT'S,) (Tavros's.) name on it, and puts it on your head.

You stare into Aradia’s fully rust-colored eyes, and she stares into your blue-colored ones.

She’s right. You’re ten sweeps old now, and to many, past, Alternian bronzebloods, that would be the end of your lifespan. You didn’t even expect to make it to 7 and a half. But here you are. Half-purrbeast and kind of undead, yes, but here either way.

Your grin widens.

Just as you were finally starting to relax, the door slammed open, jolting you back up once again. (mAAN, }:()

If this keeps up, someone's gonna end up fifty miles away. And it won't even be happening on purpose. (Purrrpose.) (hEHE, }:3)

Aradia waves at them as they enter, and Kanaya waves back as Terezi goes to sit down. You haven’t talked to either of them in months. You’re gonna have a lot to catch up on!

You eye the cake box, watching Jake carefully set it down on the table. Yum! (lOOKS LIKE,, cHOCOLATE, }:0)

Terezi turns to face you, right after having shoo'd most of the staff away. At least you can still have cake.

Trying to count how long it's been on your paws, you try to remember..

You've been living in consort communities for the past few sweeps, with the last time you've been in an actual city being for a meeting (tHAT i DIDN'T EVEN GET TO TALK IN, aNYWAY,,), so you haven't had the best opportunities to get a proper grooming. (That shouldn't be a problem, though, right?)

Jake puts a hand on your arm, gesturing you to put it down and to not worry about counting. Only for him to tug out some loose fur by accident. And, uh, a lot of it. Huh.. (You thought you already dealt with that spot.)

Terezi scoots her chair away from you and Kanaya grimaces, while Jake panickedly tries patting the fur back on, tugging more out in the process. Okay, maybe you should go get a trim. Or at least a really good brushing. Preferably done by yourself. (Purrfurably, if you will.) (i'M GOING TO DO THIS, fOR THE REST OF MY LIFE, i THINK,)

You recall, remembering how, obsessed, you were with getting better from your allergy. You're done with that, though, despite how the thought makes you cringe from time to time. So glad you've moved on from that. So glad. (iT WAS SO STUPID, aLL OF IT, }:( i DON'T REMEMBER WHY i WAS SO, wEIRD ABOUT IT,) (Whatever. You don't care anymore. Doesn't even matter.)

Jake takes his hands off of you, and fidgets, looking for what to say.

Terezi uncaptchalogues something from her sylladex, and immediately throws it right to you, but instead of teleporting away on instinct like you usually do, you catch it! Hell yeah!

You stare at the item you courageously caught inbetween your paws, with Aradia making sure your paper accessory doesn't fall off... It's a plastic bag labeled "Catnip Treats". It smells, weirdly good??? (!!!)

You turn the bag over, looking for the ingredients list.. Wow, ok. That is, a lot of catnip.. And a lot of scents, too. Whew. (Not that you're complaining though. Very interesting gift.) (,????)

Snapping out of it, you cartoonishly shake your head. God, that's strong. (kIND OF TAKES ME BACK,, }:))

Tucking away your newly gifted bag of "Catnip Treats" into your Fiduspawn-themed captchalogue deck, Kanaya clears her throat.

She takes out a life-sized plush of..

Is that who you think it is?

Your eyes start watering as Kanaya carefully hands you it, giving you a small nod. Oh.

You happily cradle the Tinkerbull plush in your arms, eventually setting it on your lap to wipe your eyes. You hold up one of its wings, watching it reflect the light nearby. (sHE, sHE EVEN GOT THEIR WINGS RIGHT,)

She says, slowly switching to a more quieter tone of voice.

Kanaya looks down at her hands, of which are resting neatly on her lap. That explains all of the detail she put in. Not even you, Tinkerbull's charge, could've remembered that much. (iT'S BEEN, sO LONG,) (iT'S KIND OF FUNNY, iSN'T IT, hOW, hOW i ENDED UP AS A SPRITE LIKE THEM, hA,,)

(The fur around your eyes feel damp, now.)

You don't think birthdays are usually this emotional, but you don't mind.

Placing plush Tinkerbull on a table nearby, Jake starts handing out plates of spaghetti to everyone, which you all accept.. He even gives plushie Tinkerbull a plate of its own. Haha. You might start crying again.

Aradia hands you a box, delicately wrapped in you-themed wrapping paper (i THINK, i'VE SEEN THIS BEFORE,, pROBABLY AT ONE OF THOSE, uH, gODcONS?), and topped with a green, shiny bow.

She smiles at you, excitedly gesturing for you to open it, so, you do.

Tearing the gift's wrapping piece-by-piece, (Claw-scratch-by-claw-scratch..), you soon unearth a black box. You lift up its lid to find.. Tiny fairy sculptures! Wow! And one Pupa Pan figure!! Where did she get these?

You turn the Pupa Pan figure over, checking for a manufacture date... This was made six sweeps ago! (iT'S AN ANTIQUE,,! }:0)

Muttering out a tiny "wOW,,", you captchalogue them immediately. Need to get them to a safer place, pronto. Purrfurably your hive! Uh. Wherever you decide that'll be next, that is..

She says back, giving you enthusiastic fingerguns. She catches on quick!

..While in the background, Jake, quietly humming, finally cuts the cake, and gives the first slice to you! This day can't get any better.

He looks around, kind of looking like he's been caught red handed, and confusedly points a thumb to his chest. You nod in return. (Classic Jake.)

Sharing confused, and somewhat terrified looks with each other, you glance at your slice of generic, store-bought, chocolate cake.

You haven't held this much power before, and you don't think you like it. (aLL FOR ME, bEING HATCHED ON A CERTAIN DAY,,) (hUMAN CULTURE IS, mESSED, uP,,)

Picking up a fork, you dig in. Despite forkful after forkful, you can't get how powerful you currently are out of your head. No, how powerful everyone is during their birthday.

First, the visitors, their friends (mY FRIENDS,), give them gifts, and then the birthday-haver has the power to, starve, them? That doesn't sound right. It actually sounds a bit horrible. Who started this entire thing?

(Well, you think that it feels somewhat right, the smug bastard you are-- wHAT, nO i FUCKING DON'T, bAD PURRBEAST, bAD!!)

You watch Jake hand out plates of chocolate cake to your friends, as you continue eating yours. It tastes so much better when you're not worrying about the fate of people you care about. Who would've thought?

Glancing around the room, you notice that Terezi has set up a tabletop game (i THINK IT'S CALLED, dUNGEONS AND dRAGONS? hUMAN GAMES ARE WEIRD, tOO,), right beside where she put aside her food.

Jake takes a seat beside Terezi, now ready to eat, as Kanaya moves her chair closer to Terezi's table.

Aradia stands up and picks up her chair, seemingly waiting for you to do the same.

You remove your conical hat, placing it on plush Tinkerbull's carefully sewn head, and get up.

Taking a seat at the table, you see Terezi reviewing a book titled "Player's Handbook", and she quickly gives each of you miniature figures to play as. (You take a swift sniff at yours, and it smells very safe. Artificial, but safe.) (nOT AT ALL, lIKE THE BIOTECH CLONES, bACK HOME,) (Not at all like the scents of Earth and destruction you're used to.)

(That place is not your home.) (tHAT'S NOT MY PURRPOSE, aNYMORE,)

She gives out character sheets and pencils, and you happily get to filling the creative stuff in.

Listening to Terezi explain the rules of DnD, you tap your pencil against the table to a beat, waiting for what to do next.

In the meantime, you quietly wished that all of your friends were here,

(gAMZEE, aND NEPETA,) (Roxy, Dirk, Jane.)

(Even if they don't really know you anymore.) (eVEN IF i WAS A, fLUFFY PIECE OF SHIT TO THEM,)

but you'll take what you can get. Especially if it's a human birthday in some restaurant you've never been in before. Especially if you spend it with people who you never really got to know until now, but feels like you've known furever.

You look at your current friends, who are all getting used to the gameplay. Terezi's talking about the classes and stats, Kanaya's busy thinking of a character, Jake's moving his mini around like a chesspiece, and Aradia's looking right back at you.

You smile.

It's better late than never, right?